The Black Book, Dear White People and Mixtapes!

We caught up with authors and activists Dayvon Love and Lawrence Grandpre about their new book, The Black Book: Reflections from the Baltimore Grassroots. We also gave our reviews of Dear White People, launched our inaugural segment on mixtapes featuring DJ Rhettmatic and offered a world premier airing of Nostalgia, a brand new track from The Cornel West Theory.

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just as the black left rightfully objects when the white media bestows ‘leadership credentials’ on particular black political figures, it seems it does something similar when it implies that the white-liberal-left figures it chooses to cite are the main real deal white radicals out there. in that sense, wasserman and hazen are really quite irrelevant and reside within a few yards of the midfield stripe.

A critique of white lame-stream ‘liberals’ & even white Marxist Socialist is definitely needed. IMO the biggest issues w white Marxist-Leninists from a Black perspective are: their aversion to Black Nationalism / Pan-Africanism; their idea that the concept of socialism began w Marx [Bro Kwame’ Toure’ ‘checked’ them on both those counts; – And their idea that class ALWAYS Trumps race, even in the US context when for most Black & Brown folks racial oppression is inextricably linked to class-exploitation. Some white Marxist-Leninists even go to the point of ‘lecturing’ Blacks re: their view that class trumps race, a lecture that IMO they should instead be giving to other whites- including most white working-class / working-poor folks!

In 2 recent articles by 2 liberal-progressive authors they critiqued the state of the US’ ‘liberal-progressive’ movement(s) [see Don Hazen’s peice @ AlterNet: ‘It’s Time for a Major Rethink About Liberal and Progressive Politics
We are losing badly to the corporate state. Here’s what we need to do’ @ http://www.alternet.org/activism/apocalypse-now-seriously-its-time-major-rethink-about-liberal-and-progressive-politics -&- Harv Wasserman’s ’12 Ways Jim Crow’s Winning in 2014′ ]
Both articles after giving a pretty complete analysis on how ‘progressive issues’ are being defeated on all fronts [IE: assaults on voting rights, worker’s rights & fair wages, anti-war movement, environmentalism, the ubiquitousness of MonSatanO’s GMOs, the rise of the Surveillance-Prison-Police Corp State {aka FASCISM}, lack health-care access, etc…] then cite only one issue they see as a ‘progressive’ victory- ‘Queer marriage’. Yet we know that the rise of the modern LGBT & feminist movements launched from & leap-frogged past the Black Freedom struggle of the 1960s [‘Gay’ is the new Black]. IMO they need to ask why have the Elites allowed ‘victories re: ‘Queer Marriage’ & abortion- yet fought tooth & nail to drive nails into the coffins of all these other truly progressive issues Further Blacks should ask are affluent /middle class white LGBTs & women really our natural allies?

Though these 2 articles did some-what [cautiously] critiqued the Democrat party, they DIid NOT call for a decisive break from Billary-Gore-Obama style corp Dims {neo}’Liberals’ & their duplicity when it comes to actually backing progressive issues. When it boiled down to it they main focus was on the ‘mean’ ole scary Repugs [what to expect from a Hog but a grunt & to wallow in slop]. Yet it’s {neo}’Liberals & their DLC Corp Dims , plus Corp Capitalism that progressives really need to talk about breaking with.

To emphasize how lame-stream ‘liberals’ can’t see a ‘progessive’ movement beyond the purview of the Dims some quotes from Don Hazen’s 7 – 8 pg essay: } ‘The Democrats about to lose the Senate as Obama gets more unpopular’.. – ‘2010 was a huge political debacle for Democrats and progressives… OUR SIDE LOST HUGE when the right [aka Repugs] completely out-organized DEMOCRATS and gained control of the formerly blue [IE: Dim] states of WI, MI, OH, Penn, & purple NC…’ {

So according to Hazen ‘WE’ [they] lost cause the Dims lost. Yet the Dims lost the House [& may loose the senate this week] cause the Obama Dims seemed to out-right relish stiff-arming their progressive base, while bending over as far as possible to embrace Repugs in so-called ‘bipartisanship’ [it seemed the more Repugs insulted Obama the more he bent-over to try to ‘accommodate’ them. IMO MEN don’t act like that].

Though Wasserman’s article was more substantively critical of the Dims, yet he also failed to call for a break w them[or even a threat to do so].

Hazen’s Line: ‘‘2010 was a huge political debacle for Democrats and progressives… OUR SIDE LOST HUGE…’ reminds me of Malcolm X’s line from his classic ‘House Negro vs Field Negro’ Speech- ‘Uhm Boss – WE’s Sick?..’

Then Hazen’s ends his lengthy essay [= a tribute to how ‘liberals’ like him have been getting their ass kicked & hat handed to them on all fronts -except- ‘queer’ marriage & abortion- Humm…] w this curious line: } ‘Let’s stop fantasizing about all the ways our world should be when there isn’t the remotest chance of those ideas coming to fruition anytime soon, if ever. Let’s focus on what can be done..’ { IMO this seems to imply [without saying it outright} forget about voting for 3rd Party ‘progressives’ independent of the Dims- that’s all a pipe-dream / wasted vote, so keep voting for the ‘lesser of 2 Evils’ [= the Dims] cause we’ve got to stop those scary ole Repugs…

‘Obama’s the More Effective EVIL’ – BAR’s Glen Ford.

You don’t have to wonder about the KKK, you can see them a mile off & know what they’re all about. But it’s those [white] Liberals that you gotta watch’ – ‘The KKK [= the Repugs] shoves the knife 9 inches in our backs- then white liberals [= the Dims] pull it just 5 inches out & then claim they’ve healed us.’ Para-quote from Malcolm X

Hazen’s a long time editor for AlterNet a popular web-site among white ‘liberal-leftists’ & Harv Wasserman is a longtime environmental activist who I generally agree w re: environmental issues especially his staunch position against [fission] nuke power [which many top people in the green-movement are {falsely} hyping as ‘green’].

In 2012 during the POTUS race TRNN’s Paul Jay [another ‘progressive’ alternative website] asked a series of guests about supporting Obama & the Dims, vs voting for a 3rd Party ticket [IE: the Green Party candidates]. The only ones that unequivocally said they would NOT vote for Obama & his corp DLC Dims were BAR’s Glen Ford, Bruce Dixon & Sis Margaret Kimberley- while just 2 white guests who Jay posed this question to also said they would NOT vote for Obama & his Corp war-monger Dims: Chris Hedges & Dave Swanson.
All the other [white] guests that Jay posed this question to said they were voting for Obama. Nearly all [save one] cited the scary ole Repug meme & the ‘need’ for Obama to nominate SCOTUS judges who’d ‘protect’ abortion & ‘queer’ marriage. Only one, the ex-UAW Union guy from Detroit, cited a reason that I could at-least respect, even if I didn’t fully agree.

[‘Obama’s the More Effective EVIL’ – BAR’s Bro Glen Ford]

My main point: Though you may consider these folks so-called ‘light-weights’ they certainly seem to have influence in white ‘liberal-left’ circles- IE: much / most of the white alternative media. .